Battle Mage
by Aoi Shinkaze
Summary: Harry grew up and came into his power. Now he's a part of the strongest and most lethal wizarding fighting force in the world, and for once, he's not the strongest. One-Shot.


One-shot plot bunny, not much more to say.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

[Hogwarts, Scotland]

Hagrid lay dying. He chuckled, or at least tried to, the effort making him cough. He looked up at the once young boy and now man who crouched over his body.

Harry's cheeks were covered in grime, and his robes were smeared with mud and blood. But none of that mattered as his first friend in the Magical World, Hagrid, lay dying before him. The Battle of Hogwarts had been intense, giants and ogres and trolls augmenting the forces of the Dark Lord, Draco Malfoy. That the Dark Lord himself was but a mere decoy was known to anyone who fought him seriously. Or could, at least. Draco had become a powerful wizard, and only those who were on an even higher level of power could defeat him. Harry, naturally, was not only above Draco, but was so much so that he hadn't even heard of the man's rise to infamy.

Harry had been away, acting as a portion of the War-Mage battalion sent by the International Confederation of Wizards that had been sent to Japan to wipe out the newest Dark King. War-mage battalions typically consisted of up to four War Mages. They were called battalions, but in effect they were worth at least a small army of ordinary wizards.

Harry had been the youngest War Mage on the team, which had consisted on only three Mages. The three had swept into and through the paltry (to them) defenses of the Dark King. The Dark King, so named for their power, which was generally considered to be on par with that of a War Mage, had been brutally wiped out by the combined forces of the three War Mages.

The mission had been so successful that Harry's superiors acknowledged his ever growing power, and granted him access to the Mage library in Athens, Greece. This came with an additional bonus of being given permission to commandeer a force of up to two more War Mages for personal reasons, and being allowed to act as the leader for up to five War Mages in a time of crisis.

Thus, within a year, Harry's power had grown even further, new knowledge making him even more formidable, and granting him a classification. War Mages had ranks. The ordinary War Mages were called just that, but higher level Mages had ranks assigned to them, rank one being the lowest and moving up from there, rank five War Mages being some of the most formidable magicals on the planet.

Harry currently held a ranking of two, making him one of a few dozen mages capable of erasing whole armies with a wave of his hands. And he had. The "army" of Draco Malfoy had been so pathetic, that both War Mages Harry had brought as back-up when hearing about a new and super powerful Dark Lord had sat down and laughed once they saw it. Both of them were now soberly walking slightly behind Harry, as befitting mages of both lower rank and out of deference to Harry's loss.

Upon arrival at the battle, while Harry and his two man back up battalion had originally started laughing, all sobered up once seeing the forces of Hogwarts in firm retreat. Harry had motioned for his two teammates to stand down, as more than a single War Mage would be sheer overkill.

Harry then strode onto the battlefield, and calmly obliterated all foes he came across. During his silent rampage the young man shattered multiple wizards minds with the overwhelming sledgehammer of his own, ramming through their defenses with all the subtlety of a meteor. Within a minute, all but Malfoy were dead, and the only reason the battle between the Dark Lord and Harry took more than five minutes was that Draco insisted on attempting to convert Harry to his side.

The idiot then decided to summon in more troops. Harry crushed the forces as they arrived, making for a truly amazing lightshow as werewolves, wizards, trolls and even giants crumpled under the sheer force of Harry's magic. The War Mage then turned his powers of Draco Malfoy, turning the man into thin paste.

But now, the results of the swift battle were apparent. Many had died, the wizards in Draco's employ being more than sufficient to overwhelm teachers and a few experienced teens. Of course, in the end, the former Dark Lord's army had suffered a casualty of 100%, due to Harry's timely intervention.

But none of that soothed the turmoil Harry now felt, being powerless to stop the steady flow of Hagrid's lifeblood as it left the gaping wound in the half-giant's side. He knew only the utter basics of battle medicine, the primary motto when it came to wounds on the battlefield for War Mages being "Crush the enemy before they can hurt you". This motto was why War Mage battalions were so rarely stopped in the first place.

Harry kept his head bowed, tears slowly working their way down his cheeks as Hagrid spoke his last words, "C'mon 'Arry, don't cry. Heh. I always knew I'd go in battle. 'Twasn't no other way I'd want ter go. Yer a good man now 'Arry. Ah, when I was young me pa would read me tales of the War Mages. There ain't no more good that can be done once yer one o' them, 'Arry. Ah, yeh'll make me proud. Already have. Take care o' the creatures in the forest, fer me, won't you, 'Arry?"

Harry managed to speak calmly, ignoring the way his voice shook for the first time in years. "Of course I will Hagrid, don't you worry about that. I'll…I'll miss you Hagrid. You were my first friend I ever made."

"Good lad, 'Arry. Yer a good lad."

"Bye….Hagrid."

As Hagrid's eyes gained a glassy edge, Harry choked back a sob. The younger of his two teammates awkwardly patted his shoulder, while the older of the two who was in his forties, dropped to his knees and wrapped an arm around the younger man's shoulders.

"There now son, it's always hardest when those who are family die. Think of it this way, even though we couldn't save him, you avenged him, right? And we can still get ahold of the mastermind behind all this, and Steve and I will just ah, look the other way if you decide to uh, prolong his death, okay?"

Steve spoke up from behind the two, "And uh hey, if you want any help in uh, "prolonging" the bastard's life, ask us, we can help out."

Harry looked up, the tears drying on his cheeks, eyes glowing with barely unleashed power as he nodded. "Yeah. "Prolong" his death a tad. Think you two can help me with that?"

"Sure/Mhm."

"Good. Then let's go. Shouldn't be too difficult to track the teleportation signal back to their base."

The three War mages then disappeared, hurtling towards their destination, bringing death on swift wings to those that had pissed off on of the premier War Mages of the century.

[End]

That's all I have.

Nope, Harry hasn't "gone dark" or whatever, he's just simply a bit more revenge minded. War changes you, hey. Or at least, I imagine it would. Everyone says it does, so.


End file.
